Chill in the Hills

Something about the name of this 10k didn't sink in. I was telling my dad that I was going to race on Saturday in Vicksburg and he said, "It's really hilly, you know." Finally the realization set in. I normally think of any city on the Mississippi River below the Tennessee state line to be "delta." Upon further research I have learned that the Mississippi delta is the area that "begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg." And in case you're not familiar with Catfish Row, it's just north of the city, leaving plenty of room for the flat delta to disappear under the 300 foot bluff. This sounds like small potatoes to those who live in hilly areas, but for Memphis, we don't get that kind of altitude change anywhere outside of Shelby Forest, if even there. 

So back to the race. Up until the day before, I had been most concerned about the Chill part of the 10k, which turned out to be a non-issue. It was a perfect day, about 53F and overcast. In my clothing decision of shorts and a tank, I may have underdressed my forearms, as they seized up in the first hill. Of course that could have been due to effort (but like Coach Shankman told me, "you don't run on your arms!," so it shouldn't have been a problem). Most other women were wearing tights and long sleeves, but I just chalked it up to being further south. I convinced Jeremy to wear shorts and short sleeves, and he thanked me later. 

We got a good 10 min warm up in and lined up by the train tracks in the group of about 100. I don't remember if there was a gun; I'm thinking it was more of a verbal "go." I decided to stay with a couple of girls at the start, and we remained a pack through the long gradual downhill that was the first .75 miles. Then the beginning of the bluff came. At that point the negative self-talk also came, saying "I don't run hills" over and over. Part way up the bluff was the one mile mark, which I hit at 6:15. If that was correct, then the second mile was 7:45. Whatever, I don't run hills, and about 3/4 of the second mile was uphill. I kept telling myself it was just the Auction Street bridge to Mud Island. It flattened out into some smaller rollers through the next 3 miles, and I stayed mostly with one of the girls from our starting group. I noticed how relaxed everyone looked, while I was gasping for air. At 4 miles (I missed the 3 mark), I was just under 7 min pace, but really getting tired. Luckily after 5 miles, we headed back downhill, screaming down the bluff and around a corner that I considered just dropping and rolling down, and back up a small hill to the finish. 

I learned that when I'm this out of shape, my competitive spirit is nonexistent. First place was 25 seconds ahead of me, and second was 5 seconds ahead, yet I still had no motivation to try to catch them. But my thoughts are changing. At first I saw this as a way to get quantitative data on how badly I suck. But now I'm seeing it as the first step in my comeback. I may not be anywhere close to the speed I was just a couple of years ago, but it will still be fun to see the progression of suck to decent to fast again! (side note: it's all relative, so don't make fun of my slowness when I call it "fast" :)


And a very exciting part of the day was Jeremy's comeback after knee surgery. Look at those knees going strong!

 

I, on the other hand, look like I should've taken the grandmaster's division. On the plus side, I'm color coordinated and even got a compliment on my top. A woman asked me where I got it. :)

And yes, I beat Jeremy. I guess that's success. :)